No, I’m not writing double Dutch, honestly I’m not. But has England’s talisman Wayne Rooney not upped his game in a bid to keep himself as the main man at United now that the brilliant RVP is threatening to take that crown.

The same scenario cropped up again in midweek when, against the odds, England beat Brazil at Wembley.

With his nose a tad out of joint because all the focus was on Young Lions Jack Wilshere and Theo Walcott, Rooney was under a little pressure for the first time in his international career.

He is, of course, an absolute certainty for the flight to Rio next year if England qualify for the World Cup in Brazil, but it is Wilshere who is seen as the class act, the true world star in the side.

Rooney, along with Joe Hart, is not far behind but, frankly, that’s it. Danny Welbeck is not the finished article and neither are Chris Smalling, Gary Cahill or Joleon Lescott in central defence (bring Rio Ferdinand back I say).

Glen Johnson does a half-decent job at right-back, while left-back should go to long-term United target Leighton Baines.

You have to wonder whether Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard deserve another chance of playing alongside each other at a major tournament.

Maybe Roy Hodgson should pick one of the veterans and hope Tom Cleverley finds a way to dominate games.

The Brazil game got the nation wondering what if? But watch the 1966 World Cup finals again like I did next time you have man flu and see just how good we used to be with a fantastic balance between spirited ambitious youth and experience. Bobby Charlton was the undoubted star of the side, while England also had the non-stop Alan Ball, fearsome Nobby Stiles and, of course, the class of Bobby Moore and Gordon Banks.

But that was in the day when a foreigner playing in the English top tier was a talking point rather than the norm.